1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to bandages and, in particular, to bandages having a wound dressing portion which may be readily removed or changed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,215 Isidore Mandelbaum claims a folding dressing. One half of the dressing is attached to the skin of the patient and contains an opening to accommodate the semi-permanent presence of medical devices such as drainage tubes. Immediately upon removal of the medical device, the second half of the dressing is folded onto and attached to the first half to protect the wound and prevent it from becoming infected. Although some claims merely refer to an attaching means for connecting the two halves, only an adhesive is disclosed. There is, furthermore, no discussion of reopening the dressing once it has been folded and closed. And the dressing cannot be removed and replaced while leaving a container (bandage) for the dressing attached to the patient. Additionally, since the dressing is not covered with a material that is impervious to fluids, it would not necessarily retain bodily fluids.
Edward F. Klein, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,273,873, claimed a transparent, non-porous tape which is cut into strips and placed on the patient's skin around the wound. Then a transparent cover can be placed over the wound and attached to the strips, which have adhesive on both sides; a dressing can be placed over the wound and attached to the strips; or a dressing can be placed over the wound with the transparent cover going over the dressing and being attached to the strips. This device would only contain bodily fluids when the transparent cover is employed, access to the wound could only be obtained by cutting through the transparent cover or the dressing or both (necessitating subsequently taping over the cut) or by removing and then replacing the entire device, and the dressing could not be changed without removing and replacing the entire device.
The device claimed by Peter L. Steer in U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,608 consists of an adhesive pad for attachment to the skin surrounding a patient's wound together with a plurality of adhesive annuli for mounting to the pad a wound cover. The mounting of a dressing is also disclosed. An alternative embodiment consists of having a plurality of wound covers each containing adhesive. If a dressing is mounted on the pad, access to the wound would be achieved by removing the dressing and one of the adhesive annuli, since several annuli are stacked vertically and connected in such a manner that they can be peeled apart; this would create a burden of creating waste consisting of the dressing and an adhesive annulus each time the wound is inspected, the dressing would not be reusable, and the dressing would allow bodily fluids to leak. When only a wound cover is used, access would still involve the problem of creating waste--either an adhesive annulus or a wound cover, depending on the particular embodiment selected--(although the wound could be viewed through a transparent wound cover if access were not essential) and could also involve leakage of bodily fluids since the only discussion in the patent concerning retention of fluids applies solely to the adhesive contact of the pad with the skin.
A pad for holding liniment that can be buttoned to tabs which are attached with adhesive to the skin of the patient is claimed by Benjamin T. Jacobs in U.S. Pat. No. 437,994. No disclosure is made with respect to using the pad to cover a wound. If it were so used, however, the pad could be removed to inspect the wound and then be placed again upon the wound or could be replaced with a new pad; but it would allow bodily fluids to leak. And neither the tabs nor the pad would remove stress on the tissues surrounding a wound by urging the sides of an incision or laceration toward each other.
Michael S. Finley, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,906, claims a flexible base frame which is attached to the skin of a patient through the use of either sutures or adhesive and which utilizes either reusable clips or Velcro fasteners for attaching a flexible top frame to the base frame. The top frame is, furthermore, affixed (by any suitable means such as adhesive) to the marginal portions of a dressing. To inspect the wound, the dressing and the top frame could easily be removed and then returned. Although the patent asserts that changing of the bandage involves replacement of only the dressing, it would seem that, if the dressing had been attached to the top frame with adhesive, the top frame would also have to be replaced--creating additional waste. Most importantly, though, bodily fluids could leak through the connection between the top and base frames and, apparently, through the top frame because such frame seems to create only a border around (rather than a cover over) the dressing and because no assertion is made that the frames would be impermeable to fluids. And the seemingly significant distance between the base frame and many portions of the wound as well as the optional use of sutures or skin staples to affix the base frame to the skin would preclude the bandage from relieving stress on the tissues surrounding a wound by urging the sides of the incision or laceration toward each other.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,096 of John D. Fuller and Decla M. Fuller claims a bandage which is composed of two portions. The bottom portion is attached to the skin of the patient and contains a central aperture for a decubitus ulcer--the only affliction which the bandage is claimed to treat. The top portion may be permanently hinged to the bottom portion. The bottom portion may be placed over or under a dressing. (Because it is used for a decubitus ulcer, the bandage also contains a thick cushion.) The top portion is either folded over or placed onto the bottom portion and retained in place either by cords or nylon (Velcro) fasteners. If such a bandage were used to cover a wound, access to the wound could easily be accomplished with no waste of material, the dressing could be removed and replaced without consuming any other component, and the edges of a wound would be urged toward one another by the adhesively attached bottom portion of the bandage. Bodily fluids would, however, readily leak from the bandage.